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“I’m not sure it is. I think she might be like you. She might not want the life she’s been living to change.”
“You two just found out?”
I nodded.
“Give her some time to get used to the idea.”
“So I shouldn’t talk to her right now?”
“No. You should talk to her right now. You don’t want her to be left wondering whether she can count on you, right?”
“I don’t, but I also don’t want her to think I’m pressuring her.”
“Tell her that,” the woman said gently. “Tell her you’ll support whatever she decides, and you’ll be by her side no matter what. If she’s just found out she’s pregnant, I promise you that’s what she wants to hear.”
I nodded. That made perfect sense to me. “I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me,” I said. “I know you have a lot going on today?”
The woman grinned. “I don’t have anything going on at all,” she told me. “Until the baby wakes up, all I’ll be doing is sitting here looking in that window.”
“It must be a great feeling.”
“There’s nothing like it in the entire world. I know you feel like your universe has been rocked right now, but trust me—in nine months, when you’re holding your baby in your arms, you’re going to wonder how you ever lived without it.”
“Thank you again for this.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
“I’m Jake, by the way.” I realized I hadn’t introduced myself.
She smiled at me. “I’m Cassie.”
Chapter 23
OLIVIA
Thefollowingmorning,Isat on the edge of my bed. I knew I was about to be discharged, and I couldn’t wait to get out of there and head home.
My hand kept wandering to my stomach. It felt exactly the same as it always had, of course—there was no reason it wouldn’t be at this stage—but I knew everything was different. I was pregnant. My baby was already growing. Things had been set in motion that couldn’t be undone.
I was shocked by the tenderness I already felt toward the little stranger. It felt like a part of me, more important than anything else in my world. Already, I couldn’t wait to hold my baby in my arms, even though I knew it was still a long way off.
A nurse walked by my door. “Excuse me,” I called.
She poked her head in. “Are you all right?”
“I’m waiting for the doctor,” I explained. “I’m supposed to be discharged today, but no one has come to talk to me.”
“He’ll be here soon,” the nurse said. She picked up my clipboard and looked at it. “He wants to discuss the results of your scan, and then he’ll let you go.”
I nodded. I knew from my conversation with the ultrasound tech yesterday that there had been nothing too alarming about my scan, so I wasn’t anxious about that conversation but eager to get it over with. The sooner I could get back to the States and move on with my life, the better I would feel.
Moving on with my life was going to look pretty different now. I had a lot to think about, given that I was going to have this baby.
I’d been too shell-shocked to register the fact when I’d learned I was pregnant, but now that I’d gotten through the night, I realized I was going to have to tell Jake. Keeping it from him wasn’t an option, even if I had wanted to, because he lived with Danny. He would eventually know when I had a baby in nine months, and he wasn’t an idiot—he’d guess it was his.
It had occurred to me that he might even want a paternity test, which wasn’t something I was willing to do, especially since I knew what the answer would be. I would confess the truth to him right away. It was the only thing that made any sense.
But there was no reason that it had to happen here in Maui. I could wait to talk to him about it when we were back home. And that’s exactly what I planned to do because there was security in being at home.
